Swine flu vaccines to be registered in Russia

Two Russian-produced swine flu vaccines have undergone the first stage of clinical trials and are to be registered by Russia's health watchdog Roszdravnadzor.

"The first stage of clinical testing of the vaccines against the A/H1N1 virus has been concluded, and the results were handed over to Roszdravnadzor," a spokeswoman for the Petrovaks company involved in producing the vaccines said on Friday.

Anna Grosheva added that a total of 150 adults had taken part in the St. Petersburg trials.

The spokeswoman added that testing of the vaccines on children would start after they were registered by Roszdravnadzor.

Earlier, Russia's Health Ministry said there were four swine flu vaccines registered in the country.

The production of two vaccines has already started in Russia, with at least 35.5 million single doses expected to be produced by the end of the year.

Russia's top sanitary official Gennady Onishchenko said 807 cases of A/H1N1 have been registered across the country as of October 15, with 562 cases among people who traveled abroad. No deaths from the virus have been reported in Russia.

According to the latest report from the World Health Organization, 340,000 cases of swine flu have been confirmed throughout the world and 4,100 people have died from the virus as of September 27.

In August, the Russian authorities said they would allocate 4 billion rubles ($125 million) in 2009-2010 to develop a vaccine for swine flu.